Editorial: Enough about birth certificates, get on with nation's business

Thursday

Apr 28, 2011 at 12:01 AMApr 28, 2011 at 2:56 AM

It says far more about a significant portion of the American people and the insanity of these times than it does about President Barack Obama that he felt compelled Wednesday to produce his full birth certificate to prove to conspiracy theorists that he is a U.S. citizen legally occupying the Oval Office.

It says far more about a significant portion of the American people and the insanity of these times than it does about President Barack Obama that he felt compelled Wednesday to produce his full birth certificate to prove to conspiracy theorists that he is a U.S. citizen legally occupying the Oval Office.

The document is available at the White House website (whitehouse.gov) for anyone wishing to view it. The "certificate of live birth" shows his name, Barack Hussein Obama II; the time, date and place of his birth - 7:24 p.m., Aug. 4, 1961, at Kapiolani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital in Honolulu, Hawaii. It is signed by his mother, Ann Dunham Obama; the doctor who delivered him, David A. Sinclair; and a local registrar. The copy was provided by the state of Hawaii and signed by State Registrar Alvin T. Onaka, Ph.D., under the stamp: "I certify this is a true copy or abstract of the record on file in the Hawaii State Department of Health."

The leader of the free world was prompted to request and release this information because of the persistent drumbeat of doubt from the likes of businessman and potential GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump that he is a legitimate president, and because of recent polling which suggests a minority of Americans - 38 percent - are certain of his citizenship, 2 1/2 years following his election. (Another 18 percent said he "probably" was born in the U.S., 24 percent believe he wasn't, and 19 percent did not know where they were or what day it was.)

"I've been puzzled at the degree to which this thing just kept on going," Obama explained. "Normally I would not comment on something like this, because obviously there's a lot of stuff swirling in the press on any given day and I've got other things to do. But two weeks ago, when the Republican House put forward a budget that will have huge consequences ... and when I gave a speech about my budget and how I felt that we needed to invest in education and infrastructure and making sure that we had a strong safety net for our seniors ... the dominant news story ... was about my birth certificate.

"There are a lot of folks out there who are still looking for work. Everybody is still suffering under high gas prices. We're going to have to make a series of very difficult decisions about how we invest in our future but also get a hold of our deficit and our debt. ... But we're not going to be able to do it if we spend time vilifying each other. We're not going to be able to do it if we just make stuff up and pretend that facts are not facts. We're not going to be able to solve our problems if we get distracted by sideshows and carnival barkers."

The president did not single him out by name, but that latter sentence certainly describes Trump, the obvious reincarnation of P.T. Barnum, the 19th-century circus king who reputedly said, "There's a sucker born every minute." That may have been erroneously attributed to him, which is too bad, because Trump has been proving the point. Barnum also supposedly said, "I don't care what you say about me, just spell my name right" and "Nobody ever lost a dollar by underestimating the taste of the American public," both of which would seem to apply here. He, too, sported an interesting hairstyle. In full preen Wednesday in early-primary New Hampshire, Trump has already moved on to questioning Obama's credentials for getting into Ivy League schools. Perhaps he should produce his own academic records - and tax returns, too - if he has designs on the White House.

The president is right, of course, that "we do not have time for this kind of silliness." (And then he went on "Oprah," so go figure.) Unfortunately he's also correct that there is a slice of America that, no matter the evidence presented, will not let this matter rest. Already there are allegations the birth certificate is fake.

This issue has always failed the common sense test, that practically everybody was in on this conspiracy - his teen mother, the state of Hawaii, the hospital, the local newspapers - all able to foresee that this child of mixed race would be elected president 47 years later. It's one thing to disagree with any president on policy, but this? Obama has done what he can. Hawaii's governor has vouched for the document's authenticity and says "no rational person can question the president's citizenship." The obstetrician's family swears it's their late father's signature on the birth certificate. Could all of them be lying? Not even GOP Speaker of the House John Boehner questions it.

Ultimately, Obama must focus on the adult business of the country. Those Americans who can't are free to remain obsessed with birth certificates, UFOs and unicorns. It diminishes and caricatures them, not the president.

Peoria, Ill., Journal Star

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